


On the Tracks

by ValBirch



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-28
Updated: 2016-08-28
Packaged: 2018-08-11 11:52:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,044
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7890943
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ValBirch/pseuds/ValBirch
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“Mike?” El turned her gaze towards her friend, "Do you like school?" </p>
<p>As the boys follow the train tracks, searching for a gate to the Upside Down, El wonders what it would be like to go to school. She decides to ask Mike, who has already taught her so much about a world she never knew.</p>
            </blockquote>





	On the Tracks

**Author's Note:**

> Hey folks! Another short one-shot here. Set during Episode 5: "The Flea and the Acrobat" Hope you enjoy! Leave a comment and let me know what you think. Cheers!

They walked down the unused railway tracks in a silence broken only by light footfalls crunching the remnants of dead leaves on the ground. Dustin and Lucas were a few feet ahead, chatting from time to time, though Mike couldn’t make out their words. Eleven walked beside him, in Nancy’s old pink dress and the blue jacket he had outgrown last year. In one hand, Mike held his compass. The other hand, the one nearer to El, was firmly stuffed into the pocket of his khaki jacket; a means to fight the urge he had to reach out and hold her hand while they walked along. Mike found himself wanting to say something, but he wasn’t sure how to start a conversation or what El would want to talk about, so he kept his lips shut tight and his eyes concentrated intently on his compass, pretending to focus on the direction they were headed in, though it was unchanging. 

As they walked, El stole glances at Mike every once in a while, frightened that he would discover her manipulation of the compasses, and subtly wiping her nose on the sleeve of her jacket when she was sure he wouldn’t notice. She knew they wanted to go to the bad place to save Will, that they would find it if she didn’t stop them. She couldn’t let them go; it was too dangerous. She hoped Mike wouldn’t be mad if he found out. _Friends don’t lie_ , one of the first lessons she had learned from the boys, echoed in her mind, but she hoped that a lie was okay if it was to protect friends. Friends had to keep each other safe, like the way Mike had kept her safe by giving her a place to sleep and hiding her from the bad men and like the way she had kept Mike safe by stopping that mouthbreather from hurting him at the school. 

She found herself wondering more about school, the place where Mike went when he wasn’t at home. El wasn’t quite sure what school was all about, but it seemed like a mostly nice place with lots of friends and adults who were kind. She had been scared when, in the hallway, they had encountered the man the boys called Mr. Clarke. Scared that he was a bad man who would hurt Mike for not being where he was supposed to be. But Mr. Clarke was very nice. He spoke to the boys the way Papa spoke to her when he wanted her to do something, but Mr. Clarke smiled more and his smile reached his eyes. El knew he was good. She wondered if there were more Mr. Clarkes at school and if she would ever get the chance to go there with Mike on his bike in the morning. 

“Mike?” El turned her gaze towards her friend. Mike looked up from his compass suddenly, his mouth half-open for being caught off guard by her voice. The look was quickly replaced with a smile and El felt her cheeks grow warm, a feeling she was not accustomed to. It made her uncomfortable. 

“Yeah?” Mike’s attention was now fully devoted to El. He tried not to look right into her big eyes, always eagerly looking back at him when he spoke. Every time he did, he felt like he was on the Vomit Comet at the Hawkins Summer Fair. 

“Do you like school?” Her head tilted slightly to the side as she asked the question. Mike licked his lips and shrugged, not entirely sure why she was asking nor how to answer the question. 

“I guess,” his reply was tentative. El continued to look at him, clearly expecting a better and fuller answer. “It’s good,” Mike continued, “because I have my friends there. And there’s recess, so we get to play outside, which is especially fun in the winter—you’ll see when it snows. And…well, there are some really cool teachers too, which makes classes more fun. You kind of met Mr. Clarke—he’s my favourite because of AV Club—I’m the president,” this he said proudly, “But there’s also our English teacher, Miss. Kennedy. She’s really funny and…” 

“Pretty?” El interrupted, the question asked with a note of hope. Mike screwed up his face and El looked concerned, wondering if she had asked a bad question. 

“For an adult, yeah, I guess,” Mike replied, rubbing his nose, “But more funny and smart. She let me do my book report on H.G. Wells, even though that’s high school level stuff. But only Dustin is in English with me. That’s why Science is the best—it’s what Mr. Clarke teaches—and we’re all together, me and Lucas, and Dustin and…and Will…” his voice trailed off. 

El watched him, keeping silent as he spoke. There was a lot in his words that she didn’t quite understand, like what AV Club meant or what an H.G. Wells was, but Mike sounded excited and it made her ache to go to school. He was teaching her so much about a world that she had never known to exist. Before, there had been only her room, the bath, the lab, and the dark place—where they put her when Papa said she had been bad. Mike’s world was bigger than that. He had a room and a basement and a school. He had a bike, outside, and a whole town. El wanted to live and experience all of those things and she wanted to do that with Mike, who could teach her while she kept him safe. That was why they couldn’t go to the bad place. 

“Can I go to school?” El asked, once Mike had finished explaining how much he and the boys disliked their gym teacher, though El wasn’t exactly sure what a gym was. Mike looked a little taken aback. 

“Yeah,” he answered after a moment, “That’d be cool! You could be in all my classes and then I could help you with your homework.” 

“Homework?” El’s brows furrowed in that way that made Mike’s heart flutter. He grinned. 

“It’s the worst part of going to school,” he told her, “I’ll tell you later.” 

El smiled. And Mike smiled back.


End file.
